Deal reached in case of child’s drawing being removed from counselor’s office

ROCKLAND, Maine — A 40-year-old Camden man was fined $310 Friday after the court agreed to reduce a criminal charge in connection with the removal of his child’s drawing from a guidance counselor’s office.

David Daniello, who had worked as a bail commissioner prior to the incident, was fined for disorderly conduct. He had agreed in March to plead guilty through a deferred disposition agreement in which he would ultimately be convicted of a disorderly conduct charge in exchange for dismissal of a falsifying evidence charge.

The falsifying evidence charge stemmed from a March 2011 incident in which he and his wife, Cheryl Daniello, 48, were accused of removing a drawing their daughter made from a Rockport school guidance counselor’s office after being told not to take the paper.

What was on the paper was not revealed other than it involved a separate investigation that is not being made public.

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Police obtained a search warrant and retrieved the drawing from Cheryl Daniello’s purse after they searched the Daniellos’ home.

The charge against Cheryl Daniello was dropped in exchange for agreeing to take an ethics course. She completed a law enforcement ethics course this fall.

Cheryl Daniello works as a records officer for the Knox County Jail.

In August 2011, the jail administrator issued Cheryl Daniello a written warning for waiting two days before informing him that she had been issued a criminal summons.

At the March plea hearing, Justice Jeffrey Hjelm questioned how the allegations of removing evidence in an investigation fit into a disorderly conduct charge.

The disorderly conduct complaint states that David Daniello challenged Maine State Police Detective Abbe Chabot when she was executing the search warrant.